THE FEMININE CAPACITY OF "REJĀL"

The following is the translation of an oped that Masumeh Ebtekar wrote today
in Bahar newspaper. Ebtekar is a member of Tehran's City Council in charge of the city's
environmental affairs. She was also disqualified from running for a second term.
(see my earlier blog on the municipal elections). 

When the time comes for the presidential election, the issue of qualifications of the candidates becomes the center of attention. The possibility of a woman president is also one of those topics that once every four years is seriously debated. Particularly this year, this issue became more controversial with comments of Mr. Mohammad Yazdi, a member of the Guardian Council, who belittled women by comparing their nomination to “a stranger who was not allowed into the village but was asking for the direction to the village elder’s home.” That of course gave his critics a good excuse to highlight the significance of the topic.

The possibility of women’s presidency is now hinges on the interpretation of the term “rejāl,” which is the word used in Article 115 of the constitution as one of the conditions of presidency. The dual meaning of the word (in Arabic, meaning “men,” and in Farsi meaning “known personalities.”) has allowed this game to be played for more than three decades now.

Ms. Monireh Gorji who was a member of the Constitutional Assembly of Experts recalls: “In the Assembly we discussed this issue at length. At the end we chose the word ‘rejāl,’ which is a general term, meaning the one who has the experience and wisdom to run for the office. Otherwise, we could have chosen the word ‘mardān,’ which would have left no ambiguity in the masculine reference to presidency.”  Ayatollah Beheshti specifically emphasized that during the meetings of the Assembly that “we should not deny our society from the contributions of women.”

So far, the Guardian Council has refused to prohibit women from running for the office of presidency explicitly. Last February, the Council’s spokesperson clearly stated: “there is not constitutional obstacle for women’s nomination for presidency.” But now Mr. Yazdi argues that “the law does not allow women to be the president of the country … now everybody fancies to become the president, should we trust our country’s fate to those incapable hands?”

The fact is that Imam Khomeini spoke categorically against those who opposed women’s membership in the parliament and running for any office.  He insisted that, “women should participate in managing the affairs of the country.” In another occasion, he stated: “Iranian women have a greater role than men in our movement.” The Imam believed that the principle of honesty, consideration of the Divine justice, and service must be the only criteria for running for elected offices.

We should ask the jurists of the Council based on which Qur’anic reference they believe women cannot run for presidency? Have they not heard of the Qur’anic story of Sheba? Do they not know that the Qur’an calls Queen Sheba the symbol of resistance to oppression and the spread of justice on behalf of Prophet Solomon? Do they ever ask themselves for what reason the Qur’an highlights the wisdom and courage of a woman in the establishment of justice and peace? The examples of women leaders are plenty in the Qur’an, women who led in economic affairs, like Khadija (the Prophet’s wife), women who led resistance to oppression, like Zahra, and Zeinab, women who exemplified cultural leadership and the promotion of different schools of thinking, like Ma’sumah. It was because of her learnedness and her high intellectual caliber that we have the city of Qom and its seminary as the center of Shi‘i thought.

How could our men in the high offices ignore that they come from a lineage of strong women leaders? Our Prophet says: “Those who respect women are honorable, and those who belittle them are detestable.”   Could the Guardian Council interpret the law in the same way if women leaders such as Saint Ma’sumah were alive today?